The problem is subsection 5 (6) of the Controlled Substances Act, says Scott O’Neill, a lawyer with O’Neill Moon Quedado LLP, under the “determination of amount” provisions in the Act. They stipulate that “the amount of the substance means the entire amount of any mixture or substance… that contains a detectable amount of the substance.”

Toronto Police spokesperson Meaghan Gray tells NOW via email that “edibles are weighed and processed by total weight, not the amount of ‘active ingredient.’”

So theoretically, a 1-pound chocolate bar with 99 per cent THC (if such a thing were possible) is less illegal than a 2-pound bar with 1 per cent THC.

O’Neill says the result is that “the police may properly charge one with possession of a larger amount of cannabis than one was actually in possession of.”

The law extends to cannabis-infused beverages as well, that many dispensaries had been selling in glass bottles.